1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a notcher employed in forming a notch on, for example, a photographic film.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
To subject a negative film to printing by the use of a printer, it is general practice to form a notch with, for example, a semilunar shape, on a portion of one edge of the film so that it is possible for an image frame to be automatically positioned by detecting the notch. A notcher is generally employed as a means for forming such a notch on a film.
Conventional notchers include a force-cut type notcher such as that shown in FIG. 6 and a draw-cut type notcher such as that shown in FIG. 7. The force-cut type notcher shown in FIG. 6 is arranged such that a notching cutter 12 is pressed downwardly from the upper side of a die 10 such as to force-cut a portion of one edge of a negative film 14 positioned on the upper surface of the die 10, thereby forming a semilunar notch on the negative film 14. On the other hand, the draw-cut type notcher shown in FIG. 7 is arranged such that the notching cutter 12 is pulled downwardly from the lower side of the die 10, whereby a semilunar notch is similarly formed on the negative film 14.
These notchers, however, suffer from the following problem. Semilunar chips 16 produced as the result of the shearing effected for forming notches drop by virtue of gravity and are discharged from a discharge outlet 18. The behavior of the dropping chips 16 is, however, unstable so that they are not always smoothly discharged, which fact involves a risk of notching chips getting stuck in the operating section of the notcher, thus causing trouble.
To solve the above-described problem, a means has heretofore been adopted in which the discharge outlet 18 is connected to a hose which is in turn connected to a vacuum pump, and notching chips are thereby sucked and forcedly discharged.
However, even if such a forced discharge means is employed, the air flow path is undesirably closed by the notching cutter 12 in the state wherein the notching cutter 12 which has been moved downwardly is fitted in the die 10. In consequence, the above-described suction operation is interrupted, and notching chips are therefore sucked and discharged in an intermittent manner. Thus, the above-described problem remains unsolved.